[Travelandtourism] More than one secret to Montrose Travel's success
cheryl echevarria
cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com
Mon Jul 19 12:14:13 UTC 2010
If anyone is interested in becoming a home based agent just let me know I
can help you.
More than one secret to Montrose Travel's success
By: Donna Tunney
July 19, 2010
It's been 15 years since Montrose Travel, a retail and host agency based in
Montrose, Calif., launched its first travel award redemption program,
providing fulfillment services to one credit union. Today the agency, having
created its own redemption technology, handles fulfillment for major banks
and many more credit unions.
In addition to bookings from those customers, who redeem their travel points
through the agency, Montrose (No. 49 on Travel Weekly's 2010 Power List)
gets a lot of new business in the form of repeat clients who have brought
their leisure business to the firm even when they aren't redeeming bank or
credit union reward points.
According to Joe McClure, president and co-owner, "We get a strong
percentage of repeat business. Further, we provide [our own] double, triple
and in some cases quadruple points to provide an incentive for fulfillment
clients to purchase [other] travel."
In fact, he said, one in five redemption fulfillment customers subsequently
calls the agency for a traditional transaction.
It's one of the bright spots in this agency's business model, along with
fiscally responsible financial practices that have enabled it to grow its
sales volume, even at the height of the recession.
After recently receiving TravelAge West's Trendsetter Award for Best
Recession Survival Story or Strategy at the publication's 2010 Wave Awards
(TravelAge is a sister publication to Travel Weekly), McClure and agency
co-owners Julie McClure and Andi McClure-Mysza revealed some interesting
information about how they weathered the economic storm.
Back in 2008, as the economy started to tank, they talked about cutting
costs and meeting revenue challenges.
Rather than "jeopardizing their future by decreasing the number of
employees," a statement from the company says, they cut salaries by 10%
across the board, and by 100% for the three owners. At the same time, they
challenged their staff to achieve greater sales.
"We created an army of selling machines and set daily goals and posted daily
achievements," said Joe McClure. "Every single employee, whether on the
front lines or behind the scenes, had individual requirements to drive leads
for new business into the company."
They began actively cross-promoting within their sister divisions. In tandem
with an aggressive marketing campaign, which featured 75,000 direct-mail
pieces and more than a half-million marketing emails, the agency's Web
traffic rose by 43% over the prior year, and its sales volume grew by 13% in
new leisure and corporate business. That translated to $3.3 million in new
business. Within 90 days, all salary cuts had been restored.
Montrose's host agency division reports $115 million in annual gross sales.
It's an agency to keep watching.
The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!
Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
C10-10646
http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
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